The present invention relates to biometric personal identification systems, and more particularly, to a biometric personal identification system that employs acoustic energy means for capturing the unique acoustic resonance spectrum of a selected body part, such as a person""s hand, storing this spectral information in an electronic database, and subsequently making a comparison of the stored spectral data with currently detected data for identification and recognition purposes.
Biometric personal identification systems have been in existence for many years and are used in many different applications. A particular field of application concerns control of access to secured locations, such as gated residential complexes, sports and entertainment facilities, aircraft and the like. Related applications include personal identifications for cash and credit transactions, and for computer access.
A particular advantage of biometric identification systems is that such systems rely on physical characteristics that are unique to each individual and thus cannot readily be stolen, copied or otherwise faked. Accordingly many biometric identification systems have been devised, including a number of systems that involve measurements of body parts or of characteristics of body parts, such as hand measurements. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,881 granted to Stiver et al, Aug. 11, 1998, discloses a personal identification system using infrared scanning of the hand, and it lists a number of prior art patents that also employ measurements of the hand or other body parts, including:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,240 granted to Jacoby et al, Mar. 7, 1972, which electronically gauges predetermined dimensions of a human hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,149 granted to Rice, Oct. 13, 1987, discloses identification means using subcutaneous blood vessels utilizing infrared or thermal radiation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,171 granted to Dowling Jr., et al, Nov. 15, 1988, utilizing light transmitted through fiber optics to determine fingerprint characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,916 granted to Bellin Aug. 15, 1989, discloses an identification system utilizing characteristics of a person""s grasp to identify an individual.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,776 granted to Dowling Jr., et al, Jun. 12, 1990, wherein a high intensity light is transmitted through a finger or the like and the image is projected via a bundle of fiber optics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,276 granted to Chilcott, Aug. 7, 1990, utilizes an optical encoder and by rotating the finger allows a fingernail-to-fingernail scan of the subject""s finger for identification purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,817 granted to Igaki, et al, Feb. 18, 1992, utilizing the differential in the color of the skin when the finger or other object is pressed against a lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,025 granted to Fishbine, et al, Jul. 20, 1993, discloses a method for recording fingerprint data of a finger rolled across a planar surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,288, granted to Faulkner Aug. 2, 1994, discloses a biometric measuring apparatus for recognizing a person""s identity based on measurements performed upon a person""s hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,303 granted to Willmore Sep. 27, 1994, senses and compares a unique infrared image pattern from an individual finger with the pattern of the same finger within memory components of the system.
In terms of simplicity, low cost and ease of use, none of these known prior art identification systems is believed to match the advantages of the present invention, which relies on capturing the unique acoustic resonance spectrum associated with the human hand (or other selected body part).
With the above-known prior art in mind, it is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide a unique method of individual identification that comprises means for capturing the acoustic spectrum associated with a selected human body part such as the hand.
It is another object of the invention to provide an identification system whereby acoustic spectrum information associated with known subjects may be stored in an electronic data base, and means are provided whereby comparable acoustic spectra information of persons seeking to have their identity authenticated may be mapped and compared against said data base and the presence or absence of a match thereby determined.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a biometric personal identification system that may readily be coupled to controlled access means whereby authentication of a person using the personal identification system automatically enables entry to premises or resources subject to said controlled access means.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a reliable biometric personal identification system that is inexpensive, readily portable and simple to operate.
It is a principal objective of the invention to provide a personal identification and recognition system that is safe, convenient, inexpensive, fast (a few seconds or less) and that provides a useful degree of discrimination. Potential applications include, but are not restricted to, authorizing entry of people into commercial buildings, gated communities, apartment complexes, hotel rooms, personal automobiles, authorizing access to personal computers, bank accounts, etc.
The invention comprises means for capturing a unique acoustic resonance spectrum of a person""s head, hands, feet, fingers, toes, or other appropriate parts of the body, and thereafter using the captured spectral information for identification purposes. The invention thus comprises means for extracting selected information from each unique captured spectrum and for storing said spectral information on a digital storage medium, thereby forming a database library of spectra covering a plurality of individual participants in the recognition process. The invention further comprises comparison means for mapping and comparing the spectral information collected from an unknown sample against the spectra stored in said library, and decision means for deciding, within a certain degree of confidence, whether or not a sample spectrum being analyzed is that of an individual having a spectrum stored in the library.